Hello car enthusiasts! Today’s post is a bit different from the usual drive-and-report business: in the next lines, I’ll report my thoughts along a big trip I made from the 6th to the 14th of April 2010. The plan was this: I wanted to do a big drive, and to “justify” this, set a few landmarks to visit across West Europe – this would be my 2010 vacation. My wheels? Well, as I cannot even dream with something wrong to occur to my beloved roadster, I took my faithful everyday partner – the Panda. Only me and my Panda, on a 4000+ kilometre (2500+ mile) trip – now that’s a challenge! :D Tags: Barcelona, Millau Viaduct, French Riviera, Monaco, Andorra. Day 1 – Tuesday, April 6th – from Redondo (PT) to Lleida (ES) – roads: N373 (PT), E90 A5-A2-AP2 (ES) After some last-hour arrangements, the trip began at 9:15 am (GMT), the Panda’s clock showing 47 737 kilometres (29.836 miles). First relevant fact: the Panda’s fuel consumption really rises with speed. Above 110 km/h (70 mph) it increased noti...

Hello car enthusiasts! Today’s post regards my latest acquisition: the Fiat Panda, with a diesel engine, in commercial finish. I will go past another background to this model, as I already made it when I reviewed my cousin’s Panda 4x4 Climbing Multijet. I always appreciated this car, but truth be told, what inspired me to go for the Panda was the (nice) surprise I had with the 4x4. Having decided that the roadster is not suited to my daily life, but more of a weekend toy which will be a future classic (I am sure!), back in last Summer I went back to my parents Rover 200 and stored the smart. But, as petrol prices started to rise so sharply, added to the fact that the Rover’s K-Series is getting thirstier (13 years old and 179k kilometres – 112k miles…) and as it is not really mine (well, at home nobody likes it very much, apart from me), I started thinking of an alternative. The specs? Second-hand, cheap, small, economical, distinctive and light. Let’s go hunting! The cars immediately ...

Driven: Fiat Panda 4x4 Multijet Climbing (2006) Gretings, petrol heads! Today I’m going to report my test drive of a car I like since it was first launched, back in 2003: the Fiat Panda. I immediately connected with its cuteness and honest simplicity; it’s a basic car which does not pretend to be more than that. It has charisma. I cannot avoid smiling when I see one of these things, especially in yellow. I actually prefer it to the 500, for me the latest fashion-victim… Even so, some bits did not appeal to me. For a start, the tall interior centre console is not pretty, it looks like a concrete block fell through the windscreen. Petrol engines were also weak, the less bad being the ooooooold 1.2-litre 44 kW/ 60 PS (even Fiat recognized its fuel consumption is lower than its hopeless 1.1 brother’s…). Another option was the 4x4 variant, with slightly modified bodywork, a simple four-wheel-drive system and taller suspension. It added genuine off-road ability with almost the same road perf...

Some more photos of my beloved smart. Still as good as ever! :D